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Friday, December 21, 2012

Today in Labor History—December 21

Escuela Santa Maria, 1907

December 21, 1907 – The Santa María School massacre occurred in Iquique, Chile on this date. The massacre was committed by the Chilean Army against striking saltpeter (nitrate) miners and their wives and children. The number of victims was never determined. However, reliable estimates put the death toll at over 2,000, and some sources put it as high was 3,600. (From the Daily Bleedand Wikipedia)

The First Get-Away Car? (Caricature of the Bonnot Gang)

December 21, 1911 – The get-away-car was first used in a bank robbery on this date in France. The Bonnot Gang, a group of anarchist bandits, pulled off the first bank robbery using an automobile, in broad daylight, in the midst of a populous Paris district. (From the Daily Bleed)

December 21, 1916 – The Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) were outlawed on this date in Australia. (From the Daily Bleed)

A Bloodied Nurse from the film The Battleship Potemkin

December 21, 1925 – Serge Eisenstein's silent movie The Battleship Potemkin premiered on this date in Moscow. This silent film, which inspired many later film greats, depicts the 1905 mutiny of sailors against their Czarist commanders during the Russo-Japanese war. (From the Daily Bleed)

Baby Carriage Falling Down Steps in Odessa (also from the film, The Battleship Potemkin)

December 21, 1986 – More than 50,000 students demonstrated for democracy and freedom in Shanghai's Peoples Square. (From Workday Minnesota)